1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper gathering and feeding method and a device therefor, and a rotation member for performing, with respect to paper, a gathering process and a feeding process in such a manner as gathering notes from a transfer path to a gathering section in the gathering process such as a credit transaction, and feeding the notes from the gathering section to the transfer path in the feeding process such as a debit transaction.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, a note gathering and feeding device for gathering and feeding notes of required amount by ATM, for example, a note gathering and feeding device 1′ as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, has been proposed, in which an impeller 91 made of a rubber material is provided in the vicinity of a gathering port for transferring the notes and transferring those to a gathering section. The impeller works during the gathering process and is retracted during a feeding process. (An exemplary device is described in Japanese Patent Application No. JP-A-2001-368334, which is herein incorporated by reference.
The structure and the operation of the note gathering and feeding device 1′ are roughly described by referring to right side cross sectional views shown in FIGS. 10 and 11.
During the gathering operation in which the note gathering and feeding device 1′ collects notes 2, as shown in FIG. 10, a feed roller 31 is rotated in a gathering direction (in a counterclockwise direction in the drawing), and by the rotation force produced by the rotation, the notes 2 are transferred over a transfer path 51. At this time, the impeller 91 is rotating in the gathering direction (in a clockwise direction in the drawing). The centrifugal force produced by the rotation causes the blades 91a to spread out as shown in FIG. 10. Therefore, once the notes 2, having transferred over the transfer path 51, are transferred to a gathering space 3, the blades 91a slap down the notes 2, and the notes 2 are thus smoothly accumulated on an up-and-down board 11 in a horizontal manner.
As shown in FIG. 11, during the feeding operation in which the note gathering and feeding device 1′ feeds the notes 2, a pickup rotation body 61 is so controlled as to be in the condition pivotally movable in the downward direction, and rotated in a feeding direction (in a counterclockwise direction in the drawing) to feed the notes 2 out to the transfer path 51. At this time, the impeller 91 is stopped without rotating, and the blades 91a thereof are in a retracted position. Thus, the blades 91a do not prevent the notes 2 from being fed and transferred at the time of transferring the notes 2 over the transfer path 51 by the rotation force of the feed roller 31 rotating in the feed direction (in a clockwise direction in the drawing).
In such a manner, the note gathering and feeding device 1′ has no mechanism for controlling, in the vertical direction, the movement of the impeller itself which has been required in the conventional type including an impeller made of a plastic film, aiming at cutting cost down.
The problem here is that, with the note gathering and feeding device 1′ such as ATM frequently performing the gathering process and the feeding process, resultantly the impeller 91 is heavily used. With continuous use, the rubber material is deformed in terms of plasticity, and with still continuous use for longer days, the blades 91a may spread wide open even if they are not in operation. As a result, the blades 91a may hit the notes 2 coming from the transfer path 51, causing paper clogging.
Further, the blades 91a are each curved in such a manner that the intermediate section between the tip section and the base section on the side of the rotation axis comes first at the time of gathering. This makes the contact angle obtuse between the note 2 and the blades 91a when the note 2 is slapped down, failing in acting sufficiently on the notes 2 if those are deformed, e.g., crimped (hereinafter referred to as deformed notes).